MMO Week in Review: New World’s promising Aeternum, Star Citizen’s big promises

New World was the big MMORPG story this week as Amazon officially brought the game to consoles under the Aeternum banner, though PC players are still unhappy about how it’s all gone down.

Meanwhile, Ultima Online officially launched New Legacy, we learned who bought the PlanetSide IP, and Star Citizen actually brought some big news to CitizenCon. Plus MOP is now on Bluesky!

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Vitae Aeternum: New World Aeternum leaves veterans, casuals, and PC players behind - The time has finally come. New World's semi-relaunch under the New World: Aeternum banner is here. Regular readers of this column will recall that my initial impressions of the new…

Ultima Online officially launches its first year-long New Legacy server and ClassicUO compatibility - New World isn't the only MMO with a big launch today: 27-year-old MMORPG Ultima Online also picked October 15th, 2024, for the rollout of its long-delayed New Legacy server. As…

Meta: MassivelyOP is now on Bluesky - Hello, folks! MassivelyOP is expanding its social media presence once again this week with the proper activation of our Bluesky account. Technically, we've had it for a while, but we've…

So apparently the PlanetSide IP’s new owner is a private equity firm named Astrapto Capital - Let me provide some context for this post: At the top of 2024, Enad Global 7, which owns Daybreak and whose top execs came from Daybreak after a soft takeover…

Design Mockument: How might we build a Stormlight Archive MMORPG? - So when I was talking with MOP editor Bree a while back, I mentioned how one of my early ideas for the most recent Design Mockument had actually been to…

Star Citizen devs report drying funds, micromanagement, overspending, and episodic release for Squadron 42 - The news that Star Citizen studio CIG forced developers to give up two weekends in order to make CitizenCon happen - followed by a suspiciously timed internal email that gave…

LOTRO Legendarium: The rise and fall and rise of Mines of Moria - With Lord of the Rings Online's Angmar and Mordor progression servers looking forward to entering the first expansion sometime in December, thoughts have once again turned to Mines of Moria. Originally…

Fight or Kite: Dungeonborne gives Elder Scrolls vibes with a hint of battle royale - Over the past couple of weeks, my gaming time hasn't been amenable to long sessions thanks to work travel, but I was prepared: I've had Dungeonborne on my shortlist for…

Massively Overthinking: Are we over early access MMOs and the ‘early access trap’ yet? - A few weeks back, Shadow's Kiss, a Kickstarted vampire MMORPG that probably most of our readers never even knew about, threw in the towel, announcing the end of development. It…

Elite Dangerous delays this month’s Mandalay ship and powerplay rework by a week - If you were looking forward to flying a swish new internet spaceship or trying out "Powerplay 2.0" in Elite: Dangerous' big October update, we've got a bit of bad news:…

PlanetSide 2 fans seek to draw in new players to the shooter with the Bring Your Friends PlanetSide event - We would say that it has been pretty tough to be a fan of PlanetSide 2 following the IP being sold off by Daybreak to a private equity firm and…

Pax Dei confirms its next big update, Proving Grounds, will arrive on November 5 – alongside server merges - For the past couple of weeks, Pax Dei has been talking up its next major content update, which is set to bring things like a journal feature and various updates…

Tarisland locks down October 22 for Blight Dragon Elegy and Season 1’s shared account benefits - After dragging its feet on a specific date for Tarisland's big Season 1 update, Tencent popped up at the 11th hour to let fans know that they can expect The…

Part one of Villagers & Heroes’ Crux expansion is live for subscription players - Villagers and Heroes fans have been awaiting the first chunk of the Crux patch since its tease earlier this month, and now it's finally here - barring a few small…

City of Heroes’ Halloween 2024 is fun – but the community-run Witch’s House event steals the show - While technically the City of Heroes Homecoming Halloween event for 2024 went live earlier this month, it was barely a footnote compared to the really big news at the time:…

World of Warcraft expands dracthyr classes for its 20th birthday, plus Blizzard patches Hearthstone and Diablo IV - Blizzard is busy this time of year, in just about every one of its online games. Let's start with World of Warcraft, as Blizzard dropped patch notes for the 20th…

Ultima Online details New Legacy’s skill progression in a new video - With Ultima Online's first annual New Legacy server underway earlier this week, Broadsword has begun releasing new videos explaining the game to newcomers. Might this have been better before the…

Conan Exiles adds new companions and improved thrall behaviors in today’s Age of Heroes update - Today marks the beginning of the Age of Heroes in Conan Exiles, as the latest update looks to bring new life to some of the survivalbox's NPCs with updates to…

Ghibli-esque co-op sandbox Aloft delays early access from fall to January 2025 - Co-op sandbox fans have been eagerly awaiting the Funcom-published title Aloft all year as the Ghibli-inspired game trekked through a demo and con season. It was meant to hit early…

Once Human opens a new PvE scenario that challenges players to face extreme temperatures - If you're ready for a new PvE-focused challenge in Once Human, then you're in luck because today has brought the new Way of Winter scenario online, letting players check out…

Here’s how Elder Scrolls Online’s U44 is rescuing PvP battlegrounds for casuals and hardcores - If you were thinking that Elder Scrolls Online's update 44 isn't packing quite the same sparkling DLC punch as past Q4 updates from the game, there's a reason for that:…

Vague Patch Notes: MMOs rely on other people – but what does that really mean? - Now that we're done with Leveling Month in Vague Patch Notes, is there another topic I can turn into a month-and-change of column topics? Well... maybe. But we're going to…

MapleStory Worlds makes its soft launch as it tries to entice creators with monetary incentive programs - Korean fans of MapleStory have already had their hands on Nexon's MapleStory Worlds since April, but now it's time for players in the Americas to have their turn: The game…

Perfect Ten: Ranking the top 10 cities in Final Fantasy XIV - I can't speak for my fellow writer Justin (he apparently doesn't want to install the mind-probe that would make this really easy to find out), but for me, at least,…

Stars Reach is testing its very Star Wars Galaxies-esque ranger skill tree and combat in this weekend’s playtest - Whether or not - and it's probably not - you're in Stars Reach's upcoming playtest, this week's blog post will be of interest to you, and that's because what Raph…

Star Citizen outlines its panels and presentations for this weekend’s CitizenCon event - The devotees and skeptics of Star Citizen will likely have their eyes firmly fixed on CIG this weekend, as the studio's 2024 edition of its CitizenCon showcase is on the…

Throne and Liberty’s first real patch ends free server transfers, opens dungeon matchmaking - If you're waking up on Thursday, then welcome to patch day in Throne and Liberty. The servers went offline at 1:30 a.m. EDT this morning and are already back. The…

Warframe launches Warframe 1999 demo and new Halloween content for Nights of Naberus - Digital Extremes has been buzzing about Warframe 1999 all year - and now you can finally check it out yourself thanks to the free demo that the studio has launched…

Vindictus turns 14 years old as Nexon launches the Ruin of the Forsaken update - Judging by the number of announcement posts and press releases Nexon is dispatching for Vindictus today, I think it's safe to say that the company is pretty excited about what…

Dark Age of Camelot marks its 23rd birthday with gifts and realm bonuses - While some MMOs we could name are preening their feathers at becoming 20 years old this year, Dark Age of Camelot is like, "Oh yeah? Hold my mead while I…

Four Winds: Looking back at the early Throne and Liberty journey from the vantage of endgame - In the last edition of Four Winds, I found myself cautiously enjoying Throne and Liberty. The game had its hooks in me. I found an engaging game that's tailored to my particular taste…

Wayfinder previews The Crucible zone and teases its eighth hero ahead of October 21 launch - When Wayfinder officially launches out of the last remnants of early access on October 21st, it's getting a huge run of new content, with a new Wayfinder, new open-world area,…

Jagex’s RuneScape survival spin-off resurfaces asking for closed alpha testers - It's been a couple years since Jagex first announced that it was working on a survival game spin-off set in the RuneScape universe, but it's been a lot of silence…

Three-year-old New World is labeling new non-Aeternum PC player reviews as ‘pre-release’ - Amazon's MMORPG New World launched back in 2021 with almost a million concurrent players on PC through Steam. I was there. You were there. Steam recorded it. We all saw…

Amazon says it’s cracking down hard on Throne & Liberty bots - If you dip into any online discussion about Throne and Liberty, especially in regard to its population, it invariably shifts toward discussing the purported bot problem in the game. As…

Fractured is going free-to-play as it revamps its content model around seasons - Fractured Online's devs have been a bit quiet over the last month, you may have noticed, but there was a method to the madness, as Dynamight Studios says that it's…

Choose My Adventure: The steady climb upward in Throne & Liberty levels and power - I've finally gotten to a point of reasonable comfort in Throne and Liberty. I've definitely settled on my weapons, obviously. I'm starting to get a build going in terms of…

Guild Wars 2 fans can trick-or-treat at player houses in this year’s Shadow of the Mad King event - The best Guild Wars 2 event of the year (if you don't count Super Adventure Box) has arrived as of today, as the Shadow of the Mad King officially returns…

Here are some of the MMORPG, MMO, and multiplayer demos waiting in this week’s Steam Next Fest - It's one of the biggest weeks in PC gaming, when disk drives shudder in fear and digital vendors offer up their wares, previews, and test builds. It's Steam Next Fest…

MMO Hype Train: Concern for the fragile labor and delivery of Pantheon - Welcome to MMO Hype Train, a new column here at Massively OP! In this space, I'll be channeling my excitement, speculation, and curiosity about upcoming MMO projects into what I…

LOTRO dev says that 2024 was ‘a recovery year’ but there’s plenty in the works for 2025 - As Hobbits trick-or-treat and Elves preen in anticipation for their visual glow-up, Lord of the Rings Online's lead designer took to Twitch last week to answer various community questions and…

Ashes of Creation’s Steven Sharif talks Alpha 2 features, the MMO’s design, and ‘the bite of failure’ in PvX - With just over a week before Ashes of Creation kicks off its Alpha 2 playtest, creative director Steven Sharif has held an interview with MMORPG livestreamer Vlhadus that goes over…

New World Aeternum, still an MMORPG but now on console, has officially launched - This it it folks: The Europe and Oceania New World servers opened up in the wee hours of this morning, and now at 9 a.m. EDT, just as this post…

NetEase officially announces mobile FPS Destiny Rising, with closed alpha starting November 1 - Last month insider reports from Bungie confirmed the existence of Destiny: Rising, a NetEase-developed mobile prequel of the multiplayer looter shooter where players control hero characters, engage in third-person gameplay,…

Not So Massively: Songs of Silence is a stylish blend of multiplayer 4X and auto-battler - Considering I don't even do that it often, you'd be surprised how often I find interesting games just by scrolling through Steam's home page. Today we'll be looking at Songs…

Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s DPS jobs need a balance pass post-Dawntrail - Balance at the start of a new expansion is always really hard. It's not impossible, but the Final Fantasy XIV team has an uphill climb when the devs have to…

Wayfinder sprints toward its 1.0 launch with the reveal of its 8th hero, Lora - We're just days -- nay, hours -- away from the full 1.0 release of the battered but spunky Wayfinder on October 21st, and Airship Syndicate has one massive surprise up…

Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen talks tools, gear, social features, and Squadron 42 at CitizenCon day one - It's that time of year again for fans and followers of Star Citizen to come together in-person and digitally to see what's next in the sci-fi sandbox that's been in…

Stick and Rudder: On CitizenCon day two, Star Citizen talked MMO design and full 1.0 release - Sure, we've had one day of CitizenCon, but what about second day? The weekend event for the 12 year-old sci-fi sandbox Star Citizen has indeed continued with another series of…

THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS

Massively OP Podcast Episode 489: A requiem for Cryptic

The Stream Team: Checking out the demo of the oddball MMORPG Spire Horizon Online

The Stream Team: Shop ’til You Drop during DDO’s Night Revels

The Stream Team: Strapping in to the command couch of MechWarrior 5 Clans with a friend

The Stream Team: So what’s new for MMO players in New World Aeternum?

The Stream Team: Guild Wars 2’s Mad King says to go trick-or-treating

The Stream Team: Catching up on Warframe’s Koumei and the Five Fates

The Stream Team: The end of the war and AQ3D’s new Mogloween Trick-or-Treat Street

The Stream Team: Prepare for the pigs and frogs of V Rising’s Cursed Forest

The Stream Team: Entering a goth phase in Final Fantasy XIV’s All Saints’ Wake event

Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.